Vehicle-spring.



J. 0. GILFILLAN.

VEHICLE SPRING.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 26,1913.

Patented Nov. 17, 1914.

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JAMES O. GILFILLAN, OF NAPOLEAN, NORTH DAKOTA.

VEHICLE-SPRING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 17, 1914.

Application filled July 28, 1918. Serial No. 781,411.

T (1 all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, James O. GlLl-lLLAN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Napolcan. in the county ofLogan and State of North Dakota, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Vehicle Springs; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same.

My invention relates to improvements in vehicle springs and has for itsobject to increase the efliciency of the same. As is well known, springsact more efficiently when carrying the full load for which they aredesigned than when carrying only a partial load. My invention isespecially designed for use in connection with the springs of light,hard riding automobiles and provides means, operated either by hand orantomatically, for throwing more or less of the vehicle springs out ofaction, depending on the load carried.

To the above ends, generally stated, the invention consists of the noveldevices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined inthe claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, likecharacters indi cate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is an end elevation, showin one form of my invention, someparts eing broken away; and Fig. 2 is an end elevation, showing anotherform of the invention.

Referring first to the invention as illustrated in Fig. 1, the numeral 1indicates one of the axles of a vehicle runnin ear and the numeral 2indicates the vefiice body. This body 2 is supported on the axle 1 by asingle elliptical spring 3 made up of a plu rality of leaves rigidlyclamped, at their intermediate portions, to a dependin channel bracket 4secured to the under si e of the body 2. Links 5 pivotally connect theends of the spring 3 to main bearings 6 secured to and projecting abovethe axle 1. The parts thus far described may be of standard or anydesired construction.

The numeral 7 indicates a pair of auxiliary bearing blocks for thespring 3. These bearing blocks 7 are slidably mounted on the axle 1 andare provided with reversely projecting lips 8, which embrace the axle 1and spring 3, to guide said bearings in their slidmg movement.

A pair of levers 9 automatically adjust the auxiliary bearing blocks 7toward and from each other, for the purpose of vary ing the operativelength of the s ring 3. These levers 9 are intermediate y pivoted at 10to a common bearing 11 anchored to the intermediate portion of the axle1 on the up er face thereof. The upper or long en 8 of the levers 9 arecurved upwardly and outwardly and are pivotally secured by links 12 tobearings 13 on the under side of the body 2. Lou links 14 pivotallyconnect the short en s of the levers 9 to the auxiliary bearing blocks7. The short or lower end of each lever 9 extends downwardly andoutwardly on the same side of the vehicle as the upper end thereof andis connected to the auxiliary bearing block on the same side of thevehicle by a long link 14. By connecting the two ends of each lever 9 onthe same side of the vehicle, the auxiliary bearing blocks 7 willautomatically adjust themselves to offset unevenly distributed weight onthe vehicle body. For instance, if a person is entering the vehicle onthe right hand side, the auxiliary bearing block 7 on the right handside of the vehicle will automatically move inward to shorten theoperative length of the adjacent end of the spring 3 and therebydecrease its elasticity. Obviously, under increased load in the vehicle,the levers 9 through the links 13 will draw the auxiliary bearing blocks7 inward and toward each other, thereby shortening the op erative lengthof each end of the spring and decreasing its elasticity, in order toovercome the additional load.

In the construction shown in Fig. 2, a single lever 15 is used in placeof the two levers showrl in Fig. 1. The lever 15 is intermediatelypivoted at 10 to the bearing 11 and the inner ends of the links 14 arepivotally secured thereto, one on each side of said pivotal connection.A link 16 connects the upper or lon end of the lever 15 to a hearing 17on t e under side of the body 2. This link 16 is adjustably connected tothe lever 15 by a pin 18 insertible through any one of a plurality oflongitudinally spaced perforations formed in the lever 15, for the puruse of varying the operative movement of t e auxiliary bearing blocks 7.

What ll claim is:

1. A vehicle spring, a spring-adjusting element, and a connection fromthe vehicle body to said spring-adjusting element, actuated by themovement of said body with respect to the running gear, for'throwingmore or less of said spring out of action, a

2. A vehicle spring, bearings for said spring, and connections betweensaid bearings and the body of the vehicle for auto-' matically adjustingsaid bearings toward and from each other by the movement of said body inrespect to the running gear of said vehicle.

3Q A vehicle spring, main and auxiliary bearingssupporting said springfrom the vehicle running gear, lever connections between the runninggear and the vehicle body actuated by the movement of the one in respectto the other, and independent connections between said auxiliarybearings and said levers for automatically adjusting said bearingstoward and from each other.

4. A vehicle spring, main and auxiliary bearings supporting said springfrom the vehicle running gear, and a pair of leversintermediatelypivoted to said running ear, both ends of each lever beingconnected on the same side of the vehicle, one to the body and the otherto one of the auxiliary bearing blocks, so that, under the depression'of one side of the vehicle, the operative length of the adjacent end ofthe spring will be shortened by the adjustment of the auxiliary bearingblock supporting the same.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

U. 1F. BRYANT, Mara? SAenAN.

